Let Me Keep You Safe - 5SOS boyxboy

Chapter Nine

 "Happy Valentine's Day, babe," Michael says, pulling Calum in for a quick kiss before they head to school.

Calum blushes, "And happy six months," he adds.

Michael playfully slaps himself on the forehead, "Oh yeah, I knew I was forgetting something."

Calum laughs and they climb onto Michael's motorcycle.

Calum has been seeing his old therapist again twice a week for about three weeks now, and although he's still not feeling 100% better, it is helping.

He's still wearing monochrome colors, which is something that Michael's gotten used to over the past month. He wishes that Cal would go back to wearing his bright purples and pinks, but he'll take whatever progress he can get right now.

They arrive at school just before the first bell. Michael has seen the text messages from Jake and his friends, so he hardly ever lets Calum out of his sight. He's afraid that they'll try and hurt him. So now not only does Michael make himself late by walking Calum to each of his classes, but he also leaves his classes early so that he can meet Cal right after class. His teachers don't exactly 'approve' of this, but Michael doesn't care. They don't have any idea what's going on anyways.

The two boys walk over to Calum's locker. Cal puts in the combination and when he opens it, a pink piece of paper falls out. Calum sighs and picks it up. He doesn't know what it is, but he already assumes that it's not nice.

Michael takes it from him before he can unfold it. The last thing Cal needs right now is something that wrecks all of the progress he's making.

Calum doesn't protest. He probably shouldn't read it anyway.

Michael opens it up, and his eyes narrow as he reads it.

Just a reminder that it's Valentine's Day and nobody loves you, fag.

Michael angrily balls up the note and stuffs it in his pocket. Calum gives him a questioning look, but Michael just shakes his head.

Calum grabs his books and closes his locker before they head to his first class. The day goes by relatively uneventfully. Everybody is too caught up in their own boyfriends/girlfriends to really care about Calum today, which is a nice change.

At the end of the day, Michael and Calum ride back to Michael's apartment. They'd decided to wait until the weekend to go out to eat to celebrate their anniversary because with it being Valentine's day, they knew that every restaurant is going to be packed.

When they walk in the door, Calum immediately sets his book bag on the couch and pulls a wrapped gift out of it. He hands it to Michael and smiles. They'd decided to make each other homemade gifts this month instead of buying something. It's easier, cheaper, and more meaningful.

Michael takes the gift and immediately rips it open. His heart does a flip when he sees that it's a scrapbook that Calum has made. He opens it up and he can't help but smile as he looks through all of the pictures and messages that Cal has written.

He has pictures from their first date, from each of their anniversaries, from Christmas, and a bunch of pictures that they've taken in between. It's beautifully put together and Michael immediately pulls Calum into a hug as soon as he reads the last page.

"I love it, babe," he says. "Almost as much as I love you."

Calum smiles even bigger. He wasn't sure that Michael would like it, but he's glad he does.

Michael sets the book down and then starts walking back toward the bedroom. "Hold on one second, I'm going to go get your present."

Calum takes a seat on the couch and waits patiently for Michael to return. Michael comes back holding the guitar that he and his family had gotten him for Christmas and he nervously sits down at the other end of the couch.

"So, I, um, wrote a song," Michael says, clearing his throat. "A song for you, I mean. It's not very good, but, yeah."

Calum's never seen Michael this nervous about anything before, and he can't help but giggle a little as Michael positions his fingers on the guitar strings. Soon his beautiful voice is filling the entire apartment.

Carry on

Let the good times roll

Sail on

Let your path unfold

It won't be long, won't be long, won't be long

You know it's gonna get better

You know it's gonna get better

Say a prayer

For the broken bones

Cause who cares?

We're all goin' home

And it won't be long, won't be long, won't be long

You know it's gonna get better

You know it's gonna get better

I've got one foot in the golden life

One foot in the gutter

So close to the other side

So far from the wonder

I got one foot in the golden life

One foot in the gutter

So sick of the tug-of-war

It keeps pulling me under

Let the good times roll

Let the good times roll

Carry on

Outlast the ignorance

Movin' on

Survive the innocence

It won't be long, won't be long, won't be long

You know it's gonna get better

When Michael finishes, he looks up to see that Calum has tears streaming down his face.

"Was it that bad?" Michael asks, laughing nervously.

Calum smiles and throws himself into Michael's lap, knocking the guitar out of the way.

"It was incredible, Mikey," he says, his voice only a whisper.

Michael wraps his arms around Calum, "I love you."